1 Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing apparatus and a processing system.
2 Description of the Related Art
In recent years, attention has been given to copper as wiring material of a semiconductor apparatus. A method for forming a copper wiring includes sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), electric filed plating, and the like. Among these method, attention is particularly paid to a wiring technique using the electric filed plating. In the method for forming a buried wiring using the electric field plating, a barrier metal layer is formed on a groove or a connection hole, thereafter a copper-made seed layer is filmed by sputtering or CVD, and sequentially a wiring layer is formed by electric filed plating. The electric field plating makes it possible to bury copper in the groove or connection hole with a high aspect ratio at room temperature.
A plating apparatus that forms a copper wiring in a semiconductor wafer by electric field plating is disclosed in, for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. H11-154653. The plating apparatus disclosed in this publication comprises a load/unload area where delivery for a cassette containing a substrate is performed, a plating process area where plating process is performed, and a washing and drying area where washing and drying are performed to the substrate subjected to plating process. An air supply and exhaust and pressure control are performed to the washing and drying area and the plating process area independently of each other.
Moreover, a plating apparatus disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. H11-307481 has the structure, which is so-called multi-chamber system. More specifically, a wafer containing section for loading, a pre-treatment chamber, a plating chamber, a post-treatment chamber, and an wafer containing section for unloading are connected to one another through, e.g., a gate valve around a transfer chamber where a transfer robot for transferring a wafer is provided.
The plating apparatus disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. H11-154653, however, performs control of atmosphere for each area. For this reason, particles and chemical mist can be prevented from being scattered between these areas, but prevention particles and chemical mist cannot be prevented from being scattered between the respective plating baths provided in the plating area. Particularly, in the case where process is performed under a condition, which is different depending on each plating bath, for example, the use of a different plating solution, it is impossible to prevent particles and chemical mist from being scattered between the respective plating baths.
In the typical plating apparatus, since plating is performed using plating solution, mist is generated. For this reason, even if atmosphere in the plating bath is controlled with high accuracy, there is a possibility that mist will exist in the plating bath. Accordingly, the plating apparatus is desirably maintained out of a clean room where the plating apparatus is provided.
However, since the plating bath, and the washing and drying tank provided in the plating apparatus are not structured to be easily attachable/detachable and movable, it is not easy to move the plating bath out of the clean room to perform maintenance. Similarly, it is not easy to increase and decrease the number of plating baths and washing and drying tanks.
In the plating apparatus disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. H11-307481, atmosphere in the plating chamber having the plating bath therein is only controlled to nonoxide atmosphere, and control of mist in the plating chamber is not particularly performed. For this reason, in the aforementioned plating apparatus, if the gate valve is opened to release the airtight state of the plating chamber during wafer transferring, the mist in the plating chamber is scattered out of the plating chamber. Thus, in the conventional plating apparatus, there was a possibility that contamination caused by mist of plating solution was not sufficiently prevented, with the result that plating with high reliability was not performed.
Moreover, in the aforementioned plating apparatus, a processing object, for example, a semiconductor wafer is applied given voltage through a plurality of contact pins provided in a holding member for holding the processing object. Accordingly, there is a problem in which a nonuniform film is formed on the processing object or no plating is performed when electrical contact of contact pins to the processing object is poor.
As a method for checking the contact state of contact pins to the processing object, there is a method disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. H11-181600. This is the method in which a resistance value between two contact pins connected to each other is measured by a resistance measuring device to confirm the contact state of contact pins from the resistance values.
The above method, however, is to confirm the contact state of the contact pins interposed between two contact pins. Accordingly, it is impossible to know which contact pin has contact failure. In order to check the contact state of each contact pin in detail, numerous resistance measuring devices must be used, and this makes the apparatus structure complicated. Thus, there was a possibility that the conventional plating apparatus did not confirm the passage of electric current through the processing object and the contact pins with ease and without fail, resulting that plating with high reliability was not performed.
With consideration given to the aforementioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a processing apparatus and a processing system with high reliability.
Other object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus and a processing system with easy maintenance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus and a processing system, which is capable of easy and sure checking of electrical contact state.
In order to attain the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a processing apparatus comprising a chamber having a first area for performing a delivery of a processing object between an outer section and the chamber, and a second area for providing given processing to the processing object; a process solution bath, provided in the second area, for reserving a process solution; a processing mechanism for providing predetermined processing to the processing object using the process solution in the second area; a sucking line, provided in the first area, for sucking atmosphere of the first area in the vicinity of a boundary between the first area and the second area; and an exhaust line, provided in the second area, for exhausting atmosphere in the second area to the outer section in the vicinity of the boundary between the first area and the second area.